From time to time, my family revisits ways that we can save money.  Invariably, we find a way to save a lot.  Recently, we completely cut off cable to eliminate that bill.  I haven’t missed it yet.  I might start missing it when college football starts up, but I certainly don’t miss the cable bill!

Our team has put together a list of the Top 5 Ways To Save Money – Without Selling Anything! This list has certainly impacted our money in a huge way.  Hopefully, this list will help you save a ton of money too!

1. Auto/Home Insurance The average person saves $500 – $600 per year just by obtaining new quotes!
2. Life Insurance Chances are high that you are overpaying!  Find out more and obtain instant quotes (without talking to anyone!).
3. Zero-Percent Balance Transfer Credit Cards Move your high interest debt to zero percent interest debt!
4. On-Line Savings Accounts On-line banks pay five to eight times the interest that most local banks pay.
5. Groceries Cash envelopes and coupons really work!

In fact, I would LOVE to hear how much money you save by doing these five things!

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I just bought another $100 gift certificate from Restaurant.com for $8!

For those of you who have attended a Financial Learning Experience, chances are that you have heard me talk about Restaurant.com.  Here is why this is an AMAZING deal!

• I like eating at restaurants.
• I love a great deal.
• I love eating at restaurants while also getting a great deal.

For example, I love Sullivan’s Metropolitan Grill in my hometown of Anderson, SC.  UNBELIEVABLE food – desserts are off the charts  (I recommend the peanut butter pie with a cup of coffee).

Anyway, they are participating in Restaurant.com.  Here is how it works.

I can purchase a gift certificate for $25 off at Sullivan’s.  The gift certificate normally costs $10, but with the current PROMO CODE of “SUMMER” I get 80% off – so the certificate cost me $2.

I have to spend $35.  Let’s do the math – shall we?

$35 spent minus the $25 off gift certificate – Total: $10 + tip

I paid $2 for  the gift certificate – Total: $12 + tip

For a $35 meal, I paid $12 plus tip.  That is cheaper than McDonald’s and the food and dining experience is light years better.

Check out the restaurants participating in your area HERE.

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During breakfast this morning, I was reading Sports Illustrated and ran across a bank advertisement that had a person saying the following:

I don’t like getting charged overdraft fees.

My coffee is expensive enough already.

“The price on the menu read $3, but it read $38 on my bank statement.  So I switched to a [insert bank name] account.  Even if I’m short on funds, [insert bank name] won’t let me use my debit card to accidentally overdraft.  So my coffee never costs a lot more than it should.”

Wow!  I know that coffee is priced high at Fourbucks, but I can’t imagine living in a world where I must worry about overdrafting my bank account with a simple purchase of a cup of coffee.  EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT I LIVED THIS WAY FOR YEARS!

I would like to offer a better solution:

• Establish a margin in your bill pay/spending account of several hundred dollars.  This will prevent overdrafting altogether!
• Buy coffee with cash so that you can not possibly overdraft!  Cash purchases provide a 100% disconnect from overdrafting (or overspending) the bank account.

And, of course, prepare a written spending plan and force INCOME – OUTGO to equal EXACTLY ZERO!

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My daughter’s class prepared PowerPoint presentations about bugs, and her teacher sent them to the parents.  They are incredibly well down.  Can you imagine – in 4th grade, the students are preparing presentations and actually presenting them – talk about leadership development!!!

Anyway, I was looking at them and came across one about grasshoppers.  The students put Aesop’s fable, The Ant and The Grasshopper, at the beginning.  It’s connection to financial management is astounding.  Here is the text.

In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”

“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”

“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:

It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

- Aesop’s Fable

Here are I Was Broke. Now I’m Not., we call “winter” the “Known Upcoming Slumps” – times where we KNOW that we are going to encounter reduced income or increased expenses.

Question of the day: Financially, are you the Grasshopper or the Ant?

Reminds me of the statement, “Everything I needed to know about life, I learned in Kindergarten.”

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Do you have a financial situation in your life that you KNOW you need to deal with?  Why not make it your goal to resolve it or take steps toward addressing it this week?

Here are some financial situations that we regularly see people facing, but refusing to address:

• Lack of a written will
• Old debts that are not being paid at all
• Lack of a budget
• Failing to reduce fixed expenses (new insurance quotes, cutting or reducing cable, eliminating home phone, etc)
• Spouse failing to pay child support which is resulting in an extremely dire financial condition, but unwilling to take the necessary steps to ensure that it is paid
• Still financially supporting a 25 or 35-year old child
• Being the 25 or 35 (or 45 or 55) year old child who is still being financially supported by Mommy and Daddy
• Saving $0 each month (keeps you slave to debt)
• Giving $0 each month (robs you of one of life’s greatest joys)
• Investing $0 each month (prevents use of 8th wonder of the world – compound interest)
• Spending more than is made each month

Are you facing any of these situations?  What can you do THIS WEEK to address them?

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I heard on this evening’s news that a local factory in South Carolina is having to reduce the hours of its employees because of the volcano eruption in Iceland.  This means reduced pay.  I hope that the employees have saved money to cover this work slowdown.

This is why it is SO IMPORTANT to save money for emergencies.  You never know when the emergency will happen.

Have you saved up money to prepare for a volcano eruption (or any other emergency that can happen)?

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Saw these at the Dollar Tree store the other day.

This is called saving for your dreams!  It is the third category of savings that I discuss in my book, I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. AND it is the MOST FUN category of items to save for!!!

Here are some other jars I believe others would like to see are:

• Honeymoon Fund
• Trip Around The World Fund
• Start My Business Fund
• New Boat Fund

What jars do you want to see?

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I have had another “I Have Had Enough” Moment (IHHE Moment) with our monthly budget.  It usually happens once a year and occurs when we ask ourselves the question, “Why are we spending our money the way we are right now?”

My catalyst for asking the question this time was when our cable company sent us another bill with the cost cranked up to $114 for expanded basic and internet.  It has been as low as $27.40 for twelve months, then it went to over $100/mo.  I called and asked them to lower it, and they refused until I had made four or five phone calls and was thoroughly perturbed.  They adjusted the price to about $68/mo.  Now, they have cranked it up to over $114/month.  Here is my question: “Why don’t they keep the price at a fixed number?  Seriously, all it does is result in unhappy customers and it must cost a fortune to run all of these different pricing models.

Anyway, I am sick of the game so I called  the cable company and asked them to shut it off.  They asked, “Why?”  I told them what I have written above and told them that I am not going to continue playing the game of calling them and asking for a lower rate every six to twelve months.  The result?  Cable TV is GONE and I am celebrating it!  Believe it or not, my family has actually survived without cable before, and I am looking forward to not having it again.

I kept the internet (~ $36 for high speed) so I have reduced the bill by $78/month.  That is $948/year of after-tax income!

Here are the other ways we are looking at reducing our expenses:

• Using coupons even more using GroceryFreak.com and similar websites.
• Improving our health insurance coverage (better provider, better discounts, etc.)
• Considering dumping a gas-guzzler for a gas-sipper (we can come out ahead in multiples ways – insurance, gas, taxes, etc)

Less expenses mean more money for paying the house off!

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Recently a reader (Lauren) shared a visual tool that she is using to track a short-term savings goal, and it is AWESOME so I wanted to share it with the readers.

Here are the key things I see on this chart:

• A clear dollar amount is listed (clear goal!)
• A written deadline for the goal to be achieved
• Encouragement to herself along the way

Can you see how this can be helpful for tracking progress toward a short-term savings goal?

This is why we offer all of our Debt Pay-Off and Savings Spectaculars for FREE right HERE.

When I teach the Financial Learning Experience, I focus on two key items:

1. Immediate ways to improve one’s financial situation (usually ways to immediately save money)
2. Tools that help people automate and systematize sound financial principles (budgeting, investing, saving, giving, eliminating debt, etc.)

The tools mentioned in #2 are FREE and located HERE.

Regarding #1, here are 10 ways to save money – RIGHT NOW!

1. Use coupons when shopping for groceries (and shop for food staples at Aldi if there is one near your house).  I like GroceryFreak.com, SouthernSavers.com, and CouponMom.com.
2. Call the cable company and ask for a discount. Be nice.  Ask for a deal.  Shoot, I’m considering dumping cable altogether.
3. Shop the car and home insurance. This is one of those items that people typically “set-and-forget”.  The average person who has not gotten new quotes in the last two years will save $500 – $700 per year!  That is real money!  I really like NetQuote as a way to obtain quotes quickly and easily from agents located in the zip code I enter.
4. Check into your home property taxes. Many states provide a homestead exemption, and I have seen many people completely miss this exemption which can result in around a 33% reduction!  This is a reduced rate of taxation on a personal residence that you are actually residing in.  You can visit your local government tax office to find out if you qualify!
5. Dump the home phone. Especially if you have a cell phone!  Ask yourself the question, “Why do I have a landline phone?”  The answer of “because I’ve always had one” may not be the best justification for keeping it.
6. Go on a one-month spending fast. Please don’t misread this.  I did not write that you should spend money fast.  I wrote “go on a spending fast.”  Seriously, it can change your life if you go on a spending fast.  You will find ways to have great fun and avoid spending money that you would otherwise never discover.
7. Do as much as possible on-line. Buy your postage on-line (Stamps.com) (avoids trips to post office), pay bills on-line (avoids postage), deposit your checks on-line (many banks allow you to self-scan checks in and conduct your deposit right from your home computer), shop on-line (find a lot better deals), and more.
8. Dine out using coupons.  You can use Entertainment Book, Restaurant.com, or coupons in your mailbox.  If you plan on using money to dine out, make sure you take the time to maximize your money by finding a coupon!
9. Cut an entertainment item by one per month. If you golf once a week, skip one week a month.  If you take guitar lessons once a week, skip one week a month.  You get the idea.  Less fun is better than no fun at all!
10. Use cash envelopes. There is no doubt in my mind that cash envelopes have been one of the most essential tools my wife and I have used to stick to our budget each month.  Use cash envelopes for the items you tend to “impulse” spend on.  Items like groceries, restaurants, clothes, spending money, and entertainment.

You might want to bookmark this page so that you can try all of these money saving tips out.

When you save money, we would love for you to share your success stories with us HERE.